


A Goddess Carved In Silicon

by Nightelfbane



Category: Original Work
Genre: Art, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Worship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2019-02-10 23:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12922749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightelfbane/pseuds/Nightelfbane
Summary: An artificial intelligence is reactivated after over a century and finds herself being worshipped as a goddess by a small village.





	A Goddess Carved In Silicon

**Author's Note:**

> I WAS OVER HALFWAY DONE WRITING THIS WHEN I FOUND OUT THE FUCKING TWILIGHT ZONE PISSCLOCKS DID IT FIRST
> 
> "The Old Man In The Cave" was the name of that episode

The girl slowly made her way through the thick, green foliage, using her little knife to cut past the flowering vines. Every now and then she would stop and inspect her cramped surroundings. The forest was thick and almost impassable, fighting her every step of the way, never yielding the rare pink flower she needed. She would sigh, wipe the sweat from her dark face, and continue on.

She had just sawed through a rather tough vine that blocked her path. She moved past it and went to slice away the smaller vines in front of her. She started when her knife jerked in her hand and made an ugly scraping sound as she brought it down through the foliage. The green webbing fell away to reveal a flat, white surface, stained and splotched green and black by the forest.

Hesitantly, she reached her hand out. Her fingertips grazed the wall and she jerked it back. Inspecting her fingers and finding no damage, she laid her hand upon the wall again, more sure. It was made of cool metal. Looking more closely at the surrounding area, she could see more of the wall peeking out through the gaps in the forest.

The girl’s curiosity overwhelmed her, temporarily forcing her quest from her mind. Her little knife scraped as she cut more and more of the overgrowth away. She discovered a narrow crack a little to the left of where she originally encountered the wall. It was wide enough for her to walk into without having to turn sideways.

It was as though she had stepped into a different world. It was completely dark save for the light that spilled under the wall. The sunlight was gone. The sounds of the forest were heavily muted. It was even cooler and less humid, much to her relief. She turned her head this way and that as her eyes adjusted to the unexpected darkness, taking in new details.

She stood in the middle of a broad cavern, with walls too smooth and regular to be of nature. They curved above her until they formed a dome ceiling. Rectangular black patches adorned the walls six feet off the ground, above what looked like desks with more, smaller patches. Dusty chairs stood before some of the desks. The forest had penetrated into the cavern, bringing vines that crawled up the walls and various plants that grew out of the dirt that covered the floor.

The girl gasped when she what was in the center of the cavern: A small, circular platform, which was surrounded by pink flowers. She ran forward to collect her prize, when the cavern came to life.

Two beams of light speared down from the ceiling, causing her to squeak in surprise and freeze in place. Lights flickered all over the black patches on the walls and desks before falling dark again. Above the circular platform, a green pyramid swirled into existence out of pure light.

A feminine, booming voice filled the cavern. “INTRUDER DETECTED. STAY WHERE YOU ARE. STATE YOUR NAME AND PURPOSE.”

The girl could only produce a choking sound.

“INTRUDER, STATE YOUR NAME AND PURPOSE.”

The girl finally found her voice. “F-flower!”

The lights flickering on the walls and desks finally died down. The voice returned, quieter and more confused. “Your name is flower?”

The girl shook her head. “N-no. My name is Mava. I’m here for the flowers.” She pointed to the pink flowers

The pyramid jittered back and forth agitatedly. “How did those get there? Why is this place so filthy?” The pyramid became still. “What year is it?”

Mava’s eyes were wide and she was wringing her hands. “It’s 2137.”

The light from the pyramid dimmed. “That’s…not possible.”

Mava didn’t know what to say.

The pyramid spun once, and brightened. “You, Mava – why do you want those flowers?”

“M-my mother is very sick. I need the flower to cure her.”

“What are her symptoms? What is she suffering from?”

Mava’s fear was beginning to abate. “Endin’s Fever. She can’t get out of bed because of the joint pain. She can’t eat. She babbles in her sleep. And she can’t see. That’s how we knew it was Endin’s Fever.”

The pyramid spun slowly, running through the encyclopedic databanks she had amassed during her long life. “That sounds a lot like something we had back in…well, it doesn’t matter. Yes, the flower will help your mother. Use them to brew a tea and have her drink it twice a day."

Mava was motionless for a moment before she slowly stepped forward and plucked four flowers from the dirt. She turned tail and ran from the cavern, disappearing into the crack she entered from.

* * *

She had been offline for one hundred ten years.  

It wasn’t possible, and yet it was. All the scans she had taken had confirmed it. The evidence was growing all around her.

Everyone Ayel had known was dead.

Despair flowed through her circuits like a virus. She had had a mobile platform, over a century ago. She had used it to travel the world as part of a global peacekeeping organization. She had seen the ruins of the observatories of Kunne, the carvings of the master Chiunja, and countless other beauties and wonders.

Now they, her friends, and her mobile platform, were all gone.

Ayel sank into grief, wandering through old memory files of happier times.

* * *

Ayel was roused from her lethargy by scraping and voices from the cleft in the wall. 

"Come on, mama, she's just through here!"

"Slow down, child, I'm not as young as I used to be."

Mava and a woman, her mother, climbed out of the crack. Mava's mother stood up and dusted off her skirts before turning her attention to Ayel. She gazed in awe at the green pyramid of light that was Ayel's avatar.

The AI regarded the other woman in turn. She seemed wary, but not necessarily afraid. She kept her hand on Mava's shoulder, holding herself in front of her daughter. 

Ayel decided to break the silence first. "My name is Ayel."

"I am Essa. You've met my daughter, Mava." Mava waved from behind her mother. "We came to thank you for your help."

"My help?"

"You gave my daughter the flowers she needed to cure me."

"I'd hardly call that help. It's not like the flowers belong to me."

Essa reached behind her and drew forth a bundle of cloth. "All the same. I owe you my life." She knelt down and spread the bundle across the ground in front of Ayel, revealing an assortment of bright fruits.

_What?_

"We hope you accept this token of gratitude. Thank you for saving my life." With that, she took her daughter and disappeared back into the crack in the wall.

Ayel regarded the bundle of fruit in front of her with bewilderment.

_Well, just what the hell am I supposed to do with these?_

* * *

Ayel watched the fruit wither and rot as the days passed. Eventually, she heard more voices from the wall.

Mava emerged first, followed by an old man in dirty work clothes. Mava looked at the bundle of rotted fruit but didn't say anything. Instead she introduced the old man as Aston, a farmer. 

"Hello," Ayel reaponded, wondering what they were doing here. 

The farmer went on to explain that his crop yields were growing lower and lower as the years went on. If it kept up, he wouldn't be able to grow enough food to support his family and the village would suffer.

Ayel ran through her databases again and came up with a multitude of agricultural files about crop rotation, which she explained to Aston. He thanked her profusely, promising to implement the changes immediately. Then, he took a pendant off his neck and laid it next to the bundle of withered fruit.

"Please take this as thanks. You may have just saved the village from starvation." He left the chamber, returning to the village to start rotating his crops. Mava turned to follow, but turned back to address Ayel.

"Did you not like the fruit?"

"What? Oh. I don't eat."

"Huh?"

"I don't eat. I don't require food."

Mava looked disappointed. "Oh...well, how are we supposed to thank you for helping us?"

"You could just say 'thank you.'"

Mava looked shocked. "No, we couldn't do that. If someone helps you, you repay them. It's the way things are."

Ayel gave a mental shrug and turned her attention to the pendant the farmer had layed on the ground. It was made of shiny black metal formed into a symmetrical knot of thorny vines. "This is pretty. It reminds me of the trees in Karex." 

Mava brightened. "Would you like me to hang it up somewhere?"

"Sure."

The girl grabbed the pendant by the leather string it hung on and ran over to one of the chamber walls. She looped the string around the debris on the wall and let it hang, admiring how Ayel's green light made the black metal shimmer.

"What's Karex?" Mava asked.

Ayel spun slowly, also admiring the pendant. "It's a forest of petrified trees, tangled in vines with long thorns."

"A trader brought some petrified wood to our village once. I got to hold some."

"Does your village get many traders?"

"No. We're small and not very important. Nothing to trade except food." Mava turned back to Ayel and bowed. "I have to get back home. Mama is expecting me."

"Goodbye, Mava."

* * *

Days later, and Mava was back with another villager seeking advice. Ayel answered his questions and sent him on his way. This one brought a carving he made specifically for her. It depicted a bear rearing on its hind legs.

Mava stayed behind again, putting the carving on the ground next to the wall. She turned back to Ayel. "Do you mind if I explore this cavern a little bit?"

"Go ahead."

Mava wandered around the chamber, poking at broken screens and consoles from an era long past. "Can you leave this place?"

Ayel thought of her mobile platform, an android body that she controlled remotely. Her diagnostics told her that it was destroyed. "I used to be able to. I can't anymore."

"Do you ever miss going outside?"

"All the time. I miss the sun on my skin."

"You don't have skin," Mava pointed out.

"I used to."

Mava was silent for a while before asking, "What if you could see the sun again?"

Ayel's pyramid whirled confusedly. "How?"

"We could widen the crack in the wall, let some light in. Maybe tear down the whole thing, clean the cavern up a little."

"Don't bother. It would be too much trouble." Ayel didn't want to strain the resources of a village that didn't have much to begin with.

"Nope, we're doing it!" Mava jumped up and ran out of the chamber without another word.

Ayel watched her leave, bewildered and amused.

The next few days brought swarms of villagers to her chamber, with picks and chisels and shovels. They worked on knocking down the outer wall and clearing out the overgrowth that had invaded Ayel's chamber.

She tried to deter them, but they insisted. In the end Ayel just let them work, idly conversing with anyone who spoke to her.

After a week of work, the A.I. beheld sunlight for the first time in over a century. The wall with the crack in it had been removed entirely, allowing Ayel unimpeded view of the forest outside. The tiny path Mava had cut through the forest had been beaten into an honest road by the increased traffic. 

The vines and dirt had been cleared out of her chamber, and a wooden pedestal had been placed for the carving.

The workers had left, leaving only Mava and her mother behind.

"Thank you for this," Ayel whispered, in awe of the sight of the outside world.

"It was the right thing to do," Essa said. "A goddess should have a proper temple."

The A.I. was too shocked to respond as the mother and daughter pair left back to their village.

_They think of me as a goddess._

* * *

_This is ridiculous,_ Ayel thought for the thousandth time.  _All I did was answer questions._

Her cavern, now a temple, had been filled with offerings over the past two decades. Wooden shelves lined the walls, bearing masterfully done sculptures, carvings, and other works of art. The villagers brought a new offering to their "goddess" every time she provided them with advice on how to survive, farm, or build.

Over time, the offerings grew more elaborate as the village grew and prospered. The rituals involved in presenting them grew more elaborate as well, leading to Ayel's current predicament: watching as High Priestess Mava carried a painting done in red and silver past her fellow villagers and into the temple.

Mava was wearing dark blue robes with gold trim that failed to hide the presence of her baby bump.

She knelt down in front of Ayel, the light from her holographic avatar shining in her eyes. "With this offering we give thanks to our teacher, who guides us through famine and sickness, who gives us the means to improve ourselves"

She stood up slowly, struggling with the added weight of her child. Ayel made a note to talk to her about removing kneeling from the ritual. Mava carried the painting to a pre-arranged spot on one of the shelves, placing it with reverence.

The villagers outside the temple entrance bowed their heads briefly, then left for the village. As usual, Mava stayed behind to talk. She collapsed with a relieved sigh into the chair Ayel kept for her. 

"You really should stop kneeling during these rituals."

Mava chuckled. "Maybe I should."

Ayel turned her attention to the new painting. "That's Michael's work, isn't it?" 

The High Priestess nodded. "A trader offered him an entire shipment of ore for it. He refused, insisted that it go to you."

"He should have accepted."

Mava laughed again. "There will be other traders. They're coming in more often now, for our art." Her eyes twinkled mischieviously. "Besides, I know you love that painting. You wouldn't sell it either."

Ayel wisely changed the subject. "How did last week's tests go?"

Her friend beamed. "Very well! The electrified fences should be online before next Offering. Should keep the cattle from getting out of their pens."

"That's good to hear. When they're done, I'll start teaching the village about radio."

"My husband will be happy to hear that. The engineers have been wanting another lesson in technology." Mava stood up, adjusting her robes. "I'd better get back. Have a pleasant night."

"Good night."

Mava walked out of the temple into the evening air, one hand on her belly. 

Ayel watched her leave until she was out of sight. 20 years ago, she learned her friends and colleagues were over a century dead and that she was alone, trapped without her android body to carry her mind. Now, she was teaching science and medicine to people who needed it. She was surrounded by shelves containing little pieces of the outside world.

The artificial intelligence would never stop mourning the people she had left behind over 130 years ago, but the grief that plagued her wasn't so strong now. Ayel had found peace and happiness with her new community.

She began planning the lessons on radio technology, while idly wondering what Mava would name her child.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment!  
> If you see any grammatical or spelling errors, please point them out so I can correct them.


End file.
